Alec Allen

Lord, grant that I may catch a fish so big that even I,
When speaking of it afterwards, may have no need to lie.

The photograph heading this post comes from here because it was the only place I could find it. However, the story is originally from a newspaper column in the Sunday Telegraph that was written by Byron Rogers and published in the collection 'An Audience with an Elephant'. I think maybe the addition of a photograph and a couple of sentences doesn't justify the copyright slapped on the end of it by Andy Dickson (and a credit wouldn't have gone astray either). You can also find the story here (with different edits) without any credit either. The story is also here in the South Wales Argus in a somewhat abridged form but with many whole sentences and phrases intact (once again without any credit). Here's a column from the Daily Mail that is written from a different perspective (that of the farmer's daughter) but I wonder what his source was for the story of the catching of the fish ("Good job people kept notes" indeed)? Finally, here's an article in Fish & Fly wherein the contributor (Jon Beer) vaguely recalls the story and asks for help from his readers. Scroll to the bottom for the helpful reply from one Dan Metcalfe. Well done. Credit where it's due.